Monthly Archives: July 2013

We note with continuing satisfaction that Mayor Bloomberg’s big-soda ban has been nullified once again in the courts, this time on appeal. (Our reaction to the original ruling is here.) The issue here is personal responsibility. Implicit in this ban is the idea that it is the proper role of the State to intervene in […]

I’m back from Southern California (always a relief) and will be getting back to normal operation around here shortly. For tonight, here’s a longish excerpt from Jonah Goldbergs’ most recent ‘G-File’ newsletter, in which he looks at the differences between conservative and liberal sex scandals in light of what he considers to be essential differences […]

Here is a haunting, oddly beautiful video about Aokigahara, the “suicide forest” at the foot of Fuji-san. After watching this, I remembered a haiku I had written, years ago. Related content from Sphere

I’m not one to wallow in salacious gossip, but when it comes to the detestable liberal jackass and odious sexual deviant Anthony Weiner, I’ll make an exception. New examples of his dark obsession have just come to light, in a series of prurient exchanges between the disgraced former Congressman and a 22-year-old woman. You can […]

In the days since the Zimmerman verdict, I’ve had a lot of conversations with liberal friends* in which they complain about the use of lethal force against the “unarmed” Trayvon Martin. Most of these people have no experience whatsoever with the use of hands, elbows, and forearms as weapons, and imagine that nothing really serious […]

Mark Steyn on Detroit, which is scrounging around for assets to liquidate: What else is left to sell? Windsor has already offered to buy Detroit’s half of the Detroit/Windsor tunnel, perhaps to wall it up. With bankruptcy temporarily struck down, we’re told that “innovation hubs” and “enterprise zones” are the answer. Seriously? In my book […]

From an article on today’s ruling by Ingham County Circuit judge Rosemary Aquilina, who has blocked Detroit’s bankruptcy filing: “It’s cheating, sir, and it’s cheating good people who work,” the judge told assistant Attorney General Brian Devlin. “It’s also not honoring the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.” Aquilina said […]

The NBA’s New Orleans Hornets are changing their name. They are going to become the Pelicans, and apparently many of their fans think the new moniker doesn’t sound fearsome enough. They ought to know better, says Deadpsin’s Barry Petchesky. He has written a lusty defense of the pelican’s ferocity, including the sentence “The pelican might […]

With the Zimmerman verdict still reverberating, the blogger known as Ace of Spades has written an excellent contribution to that “national conversation” we’re supposed to be having. Read it here. Also, in case you missed it, here’s George Zimmerman’s brother dismantling Piers Morgan shortly after the verdict. Related content from Sphere

Our reader and commenter The Big Henry has sent along an interesting item: the most contentious articles on Wikipedia. Some of them are what you’d expect: Global Warming’, ‘Race and Intelligence’. Others, not so much — in particular, number 4: ‘List of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. Employees’. Also, number 1 on the list is ‘George […]

The Department of Justice, frustrated by the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, is determined to crucify George Zimmerman anyway, whatever it takes. (This is, apparently, necessary in order to fulfill the DOJ’s primary mission: to “alleviate tensions, address community concerns and promote healing”.) Despite the FBI having determined that there was no evidence that […]

Well, as you all know by now, George Zimmerman was cleared of all counts last night in the Trayvon Martin shooting. There’s little to cheer about here, beside the fact that the legal system worked as intended. An unarmed 17-year-old has been shot dead, and another young man will never know a day’s peace as […]

I’ve been working like a dog all week, and between earning a crust and winnowing away the chaff in the comment threads, I’ve had no time to pile up a new post. So for tonight, just a few links: — Supermassive object begins to collapse. — The Butlerian jihad begins. — A blue planet where […]

In 1965, near the end of a long lifetime of scholarly study and reflection, the great historians Will and Ariel Durant brought forth a slim volume called The Lessons of History, a companion to their magnum opus, The Story of Civilization. The third chapter, Biology and History, deals with topics now associated with the dissident […]

Our recent post on differing views of the importance of tradition led to a disagreement, in the comment thread, on whether American culture was in decline. No, said our interlocutor “the One Eyed Man”, quite the contrary: While you fret about “our own rapidly vanishing culture,” the rest of the world frets that their cultures […]

I generally make some sort of post on Independence Day, but yesterday I neglected to. It was the usual “Main Street, USA” kind of Fourth here in Wellfleet: a slightly goofy, locally themed parade under a hot July sun. (Along Main Street.) One thing I might have mentioned yesterday was that John Adams, our second […]

In our recent discussion of the Supreme Court’s DOMA ruling, our reader Peter, “The One Eyed Man”, made the following response to the suggestion that marriage was a tradition so ancient, and so universal, that some care might be warranted in tampering with it: Tradition alone does not justify continuance in perpetuity. Well, I don’t […]